A Quarterlife Odyssey in New England

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muffins

In my flurry of cooking last weekend, I made some awesome mini muffins to snack on all week. I know that I’m never really going to get over my sugar cravings in this lifetime, so I figured it was time to find a way to indulge in a healthier manner. This was the perfect balance.

I didn’t have quick oats, so I chopped up whole oats in a food processor before starting

I forgot to buy vanilla yogurt so I used the plain Greek yogurt I had around, along with an extra tsp of vanilla and a tbsp of brown sugar to balance it out, overall

Mini chocolate chips are amazing and I ate many of them. That’s all.

I think this could have stood to have another banana added. It didn’t have a lot of banana influence, if you ask me.

This made 45 mini muffins, though it was supposed to make only 36 – maybe I let it sit too long as I used my one muffin pan or maybe I wasn’t filling them enough, but I don’t really mind either way. More to share! They are not super sweet, but they’re tasty, healthy (>1 pointplus each!) and easy to make – win!

This recipe from Cakelove was a true adventure and included more than a few touch-and-go moments. I looked up the recipe at Porter Square Books, bought the materials at the grocery store next door, and came home to see what I come whip up. The final result was tasty (all the office muffins were gone in a day) despite making all these mistakes:

Assuming that I would be ok without a paddle mixer. Making due with what you have is lovely, but the chemistry isn’t quite the same in a traditional mixer, as I found out this day.

Using the wrong sugar on purpose. I figured that if I had to buy raw sugar anyway, I should use it up! But again, chemistry was not entirely on my side.

Making a double batch without measuring the bowl – good for the stomach but not if it doesn’t fit into the mixer! (Hint: IT DOESN’T!)

Not softening the butter – melted is not the same, and you have to watch that stuff!

Using half as much butter. After I doubled the recipe, I just could not bring myself to use a second stick of butter. You have to draw the line somewhere!

With all that said, don’t these things look delicious?

Muffins in progress

Fresh out of the oven!

Lemon almond muffin adventure complete!

Check out the recipe here; good luck with your own kitchen adventures!

After a morning run, I love to spend my weekend whipping up some muffins. I try to pick recipes that are a little different but don’t involve buying lots of extra ingredients, with an emphasis on things that are good to freeze and warm up over the following weeks.

Today’s muffins were inspired by my favorite fruit, granny smith apples. I know people usually use softer apples for baking, but granny smiths work just fine and are a healthy snack if you don’t get around to baking. The ginger in this recipe gives you a final product that’s tasty but not traditional.

Apple-Cinnamon- Ginger Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups quick oats (or rolled oats, just run them through a blender quickly to chop them down to size)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar*

1 tsp vanilla*

3 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp honey

1 tsp ginger, fresh, peeled, and grated (buy a jar and save yourself a ton of time – and it lasts forever!)

I can always tell which recipes I’ve tried in my cookbook because those are the pages that are slightly stuck together with sugar and such from recipes of the past. My Grandma’s cookbooks are also a testament to this idea – you can see where people have pawed through them with a chocolatey finger after losing their place making brownies.

My latest baking endeavor: muffins to enjoy and especially to freeze. I love muffins for breakfast, especially before the gym. My mom makes really good morning glory muffins, but I wanted to go for something a little simpler so I whipped up these cranberry-orange muffins with Betty Crocker’s recipe.*